Turkey Trot 2009

Every year, McKinley does the annual Turkey Trot before Thanksgiving. I always like to run it with my kids. Second grade and older students run for a mile, but first grade runs just half a mile. I haven't ran for two months, since I had surgery. My doctor just informed me last week that I can start running again (praise the heavens...you have no idea how much food I've eaten since my surgery, I've gained myself a few good pounds, and need to start running it off, and I also need the running to improve my mental clarity!). So I was excited to be able to run, and thought, "I've ran a 13.1 mile half marathon, a 10K and a few 5K's this past year, I can run a half mile easily!" All the first graders lined up, and I joined them when they started. Good heck, they all ran fast, and left me in the dust! I was shocked at how slow I was! After a bit, of course, most of them decided to just walk. I kept my slow and steady pace (and yes, I ran by all the kids who were complaining how they couldn't do it. I would encourage them with my words, but I wasn't going to slow down and walk with them. I wanted to run, man! Rude of me, I know :) ). I finished it, but it was the hardest half mile! It sucks how much running I have lost since I haven't done it for two months! It was a lot of fun though, and I was very proud of all my students for doing it. The first place boy and first place girl even came from my class!

First graders, lining up, ready to run!

And they're off!

Phew! We finished!

Yay Billy! First place boy..

Yay Lexy! First place girl..

My Short but Fun Weekend in Denver

My good friend Meggan came with me to Denver for the weekend. I was able to have lunch with my former coworkers, see lots of my favorite Colorado people, eat some yummy food, and do a little bit of sight seeing. We went to Boulder for a few hours, a place where Meggan, Jessica, and Becca had never been. We also spent some time at the Columbine Memorial. As weird as this sounds, I find that place to be so peaceful and I love to visit it! It was a short but fun weekend, spending time with the funnest people I know! Thanks Hil, Sara, Jessica, and Michelle for letting us stay with you and spending time with me. I sure love you girls!

We loved this candy shop on Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. They had everything!!

Megg loves her nut rolls!

They even had awesome sunglasses in the candy shop...Jessica looks stunning, don't you think?!

I have funny friends in Colorado. We ate at Mexican Restaurant, and didn't have the best service. We were short a straw, So Jessica and Becca split a straw in half and used the short little straw until our waitress FINALLY came back and brought us another one. Loved it! You can see here Becca comparing the two straws..

Self-portrait, with some yummy candy in my mouth from the yummy candy shop in Boulder. I love to eat!

I'm "in" Boulder. Get it? Huh, huh? I love that city. Can't wait to run the Bolder Boulder 10K again in May!!

Denver, You are Just What I Need!

Since moving back to Utah the end of July, I have been anticipating and trying to plan a trip back to Denver, the city I love. FINALLY, I bought my plane tickets and will be going in a week and a half! I have missed the people in Colorado, I have missed the Denver skyline, I have missed the adventures that can await you there, I have missed the food, I have just plain old missed it! Don't get me wrong, I love Utah, I love teaching, I love the people here (most of them anyway). But there's something about Denver that just speaks to the heart and soul of me. And I have a feeling that taking a quick trip there will be just what I need at the present funky moment of my life. Denver, here I come!!

Halloween 2009

Meggan and I dressed up as the Chippendale dancers from the Saturday Night Live skit with Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley. I elected Meggan to be Patrick because she is an awesome dancer and for some reason I KNEW she could pull off that mullet! We even performed the dance. We'll do it again and get someone to record it, don't worry! Enjoy the photos!

Yep, I was "Barney" (Chris Farley) and no, that is not a pillow sticking out of my armhole. OK, so maybe it is...

Adrian (AKA Meggan) showing off the Patrick Swayze move very well!

The Schulze's don't mess around at their Halloween parties! After an awesome scavenger hunt around town, we had the eating contest. Don't let this picture fool you..we thought it was just nachos too. But below the nachos was a collection of nasty stuff: marshmallows sprinkled with Cajun spice, pumpkin, olives, beans, cookies, along with drinking hot cocoa mix in water, that mind you, had not been stirred together yet. I don't mess around when it comes to eating contests but this year I couldn't handle the marshmallows with spice. I tried to gag it down but I ended up throwing it all up instead! Sorry team, I couldn't pull through on the food eating this year! After the eating was the obstacle course, but sadly I couldn't participate in that with my recent surgery. Next year my friends, next year!!

This year the theme was whatever you wanted. Shay and Nik came as Fred and Wilma, Laci was a pirate, Daniel came as Billy Ray Cyrus. Good times at the Schulze Halloween Party 2009. Thanks for the good times!!

For the Love of Augusta

Posing with 7 of my 9 nieces and nephews. We missed you Malcolm and Quinn!

Me hugging my brother Cody after a very emotional moment for me..

My dad with his brother, Fred. My aunt Candi, their sister, passed away a few years ago. We missed her a lot at this time, too.
Libby, me, and Aspen. I love my nieces and nephews so much!

I love my uncle Kieth! (My Aunt Candi's husband)

My cousin Liz and I. She's the best!!

My nieces with my great Aunt Jean. The only living sister left out of the 6 my grandma had. She smelled so good, just like my grandma always did.

Libby always knows how to party it up!

The singers-fitting that my grandma is in the background. She had the most beautiful casket..

I LOVED this picture. The pall bearers facing all of us. It was neat to look back and see all of them.

My grandma loved these men!

Singing my solo part.

Dad with Libby

The Perkins/Crouch clan ate at Red Robin after the graveside service. Lots of laughs, my grandma would be proud!

Beautiful Nieces and Nephews

Ammon, Kanyon, Micah and Jonah

The Crouch family, minus Nathaniel and my Aunt Candi

It was such a beautiful Fall day!

My whole immediate family except Lisa's husband Mack and her two kids Malcolm and Quinn. Big, beautiful family! I love all of you! It was so good to come together to celebrate grandma's life!

All is Well

Grandpa (Pa), my Uncle Kieth, and some of my siblings and cousins at my grandma's viewing.

Tabbi, Trina, Kala, Liz and I sang "How Great Thou Art"-my grandma's favorite hymn, and what she always wanted sung at her funeral. We sung it at the graveside service, with Tabbi's friend Jessica accompanying us on the harp.

Most of the cousins together-Nathaniel, Mick, Cody and Kala are missing from this one.

For the first time ever, all 7 siblings of the Perkins' clan posing for a picture: Kala, Cody, Mick, Lisa, me, Tabbi and Trina

It was a beautiful and emotional two days being with family and saying goodbye to my grandma. Many kind and wonderful words were spoken about her, and it makes me very proud that she was my grandma. I want to live up to the heritage that is in my family because of her! More pictures to come later (I have to steal them from my siblings, because I don't take good pictures anymore...)

My Rock

My Grandma Perkins has always been a very important person in my life. Since the time I was a little girl, she has always been a woman that I have loved, admired, and adored. She passed away this morning, and since I found out, my thoughts have led back to my favorite memories with her, and what she has taught me:

-My grandparents lived in Cour D'Alane, ID but had a winter home in Arizona. Every Fall, they would drive South, stopping to say with us for a few days on their way to Arizona, and again in the Spring, on the way back to Cour D'Alane. They would always come on weekends because I remember my grandparents going to church with us, and I ALWAYS wanted to sit next to my grandma. She would scratch my back all during sacrament and it was pure heaven for me!

-My favorite place in the whole world was my grandparent's house in Cour D'Alane. They lived on the lake and every glorious summer for a few days we would drive up and spend time with them. It was the most beautiful, peaceful place on Earth, and I anticipated that trip all year! Every morning my grandma would make orange juice mixed in the blender with a banana-something I like to do now. We would go on our annual shopping trip with Grandma. And I tell you what, my grandma didn't mess around when it came to shopping! She knew all the best places to go, gave honest opinions about how we looked in our clothing, and I cherish those times I spent with her :) Playing games and putting puzzles together at the lake house was another favorite activity of us grand kids.

-It was a sad day for all of us when my grandparents sold their home in Cour D'Alane and moved to Spokane, WA. Tabbi and I were able to drive up, just the two of us, to spend some time with them a few years ago in their new home. That is a trip I will treasure for the rest of my life. We were able to just sit and talk with them for hours. My grandma had the sharpest memory of any person I know, and she was over 90 years old!! She had a keen eye for details, and was a wonderful storyteller. I loved hearing her talk about her past, growing up with her large family, about my parents, giving us wonderful advice, and just spending that time with her. She and my grandpa worked in the temple once a week, and it was their tradition after to eat a Burger King hamburger and share a small fry. Isn't that so cute?! It was fun to share in that tradition with them for a day.

-My grandma was honest, firm, blunt, hilarious, and the most loving person alive. She knew who she was, she loved herself, and she wasn't afraid to be herself. All those qualities wrapped in one made my grandma so beautiful, so wonderful to be around. She always knew how to make everyone feel so welcome and people wanted to be around her to hear her stories, and share in her glorious laughter. She could always make me laugh, she could always make me cry. She told me how it was, and I needed that! That's a quality I always admired in her, one that several people in my family possess. It makes for good times when we are all together, I tell you what!

-When my grandma said "I love you" I knew she meant it. She said it with so much conviction, so much emotion. I believed it, I felt it, and I loved hearing her say those 3 words. That is something I learned from her-love others unconditionally, tell them often, and mean it when you say it.

-My grandma was my biggest fan-she supported me whole heartedly in everything I chose to do-my singing and piano lessons, going to college, graduating, teaching, receiving my temple endowments, moving to Colorado. All of it. She backed me up, and would tell me how proud of me she was. I remember a short while after my Aunt Candi died (her daughter), I called my grandma to just talk (I loved doing that). She told me that my Aunt Candi would tell her often, "Quin is so beautiful." And then my grandma said, with emotion that made me cry, "Quin, you are beautiful. And I love you, I love you!" -Side note, my grandma refused to call me Tawna. I was Quin to her, I will always be her Quin.

-A few years ago, some of us in our family went to visit my grandparents in July for their birthday. On this particular trip, Kala and I were able to go shopping alone with grandma. At that time, I had been thinking about getting Chaco shoes. I really wanted them, but was hesitant on the price. We passed a store that sold them in the mall, and I told my grandma that I desired them. My Grandma said, "Quin, let's just go try them on and see what you think." So I did. She loved them on me, and basically forced me to buy them. She knew how much I wanted them! Another lesson learned from my grandma-when you truly desire something, go for it. Get it.

-I remember after my older brother, Cody, fell off a 40 ft. cliff. My grandparents came to be with us. I had never seen my grandma cry so hard as when she saw Cody after the incident. I will never forget that moment-the emotion she showed, the love that she truly felt for him, and I knew she loved us all that way, equally.

-I always feel so proud when I hear stories of my grandparents on both sides, of the history of their families. I always feel so lucky that I was born into such an amazing heritage. I was blessed with the best grandparents a girl could have. I've always known I was loved, I've always known that my grandparents cared about me and valued me as a person, as their granddaughter.

-My grandma always remembered all of her grand kids' birthdays and sent us a card with money every year. She always signed the card, "Love to the Last Counting." I loved that statement, and have begun using it myself. My grandma taught me so many valuable lessons, most by her example of faith in the gospel, in her love for her family, and by the way she chose to live her life and share it with us. I love you to the last counting, Grandma. You were the rock in our family, and you will be missed every day..


P.S. I'm ticked..I can't find my favorite picture with my Grandma Perkins to post with this entry. I'll find it soon and post it.